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JAPAN UNDERGROUND presents [Champagne]’s First UK Live – 15 May

25 April, 2013 by Tom Smith 3 Comments

When: Wednesday 15 May 2013 from 7pm.
Where: The Pipeline (basement), 94 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7DA.
Tickets: £7.50 advance (buy), £10 on the door.
Support: Area 11 // NO CARS // Ken Kobayashi & The Colors // DJs and special guests
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/116765661855283/

From performing on the streets of Harajuku, to rocking tens of thousands at SUMMER SONIC and a host of other top Japanese festivals, to selling out every tour they’ve ever done. [Champagne] are living proof that it is possible to go from indie heroes to full-blown rockstars in a matter of years, and now they’re ready to burst out from Japan for the next chapter in their musical conquest by performing in the UK for the first time.

[Champagne] will hold their first overseas headline show at The Pipeline, London on Wednesday 15 May 2013. Tickets for the show in London are on sale now (click here), priced at £7.50. They will also be available on the door whilst stocks last for £10.

The band will be joined with support from Brit internet sensation Area 11 – who recently celebrated chart success with their debut album ‘All the Lights in the Sky’ – and the quirky Japanese all-girl group No Cars, plus DJs and special guests.
Led by Yohei Kawakami (vocals and drums), who grew up in Syria, and Hiroyuki Isobe (bass and chorus) who grew up in America, [Champagne] manage to fuse the best from western and eastern music to create unique and catchy pop-rock songs. Since forming in 2007, they have released three albums; the first entitled ‘Where’s My Potato?’, followed by Oricon Indie Chart topper ‘I want to go to Hawaii’, and then ‘Schwarzenegger’, with a fourth hit album expected to be released soon.

Filed under Japan Underground, News Tagged with Area 11, Japan, Japan London, Japan Underground, Japanese bands London, Japanese England, japanese gigs, Japanese gigs England, Japanese gigs London, Japanese gigs UK, Japanese London, Japanese music, Japanese music England, Japanese Music London, Japanese music UK, Jpop England, Jpop London, Jpop UK, Jrock England, Jrock London, Jrock UK, London, London events, NO CARS, SUMMER SONIC, The Pipeline, [Champagne]

Tickets Now on Sale for illion’s Debut UK Live

18 January, 2013 by Tom Smith Leave a comment

If the wallpaper, the side bar advert or us banging on about it for what seems like forever wasn’t a big enough hint, there’s this guy called Yojiro Noda. He’s the vocalist of RADWIMPS. He’s heading to London very soon with his solo project illion. And it’s kind of a big deal.

Tickets for his debut UK love show went on sale this morning for £25 (click here to grab yours). And to prove to you that illion is serious business, they’re putting him on at the massive O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on Sunday 17 March 2013.

In December illion album track ‘BRAIN DRAIN’ previewed on Youtube for 48 hours. Those lucky enough to tune in were treated to a video recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios, but which ultimately revealed very little about the project. The sound, in our opinion was very different from what we’re used to from RADWIMPS. Instead it reminded us more of London’s own part-Japanese singer-songwriting unit Tori Tori Bird, with piano leading the melody.

BRAIN DRAIN has since been released as a digital single, and can be downloaded now from iTunes for 99p by clicking here.

Although RADWIMPS’ DADA is one of our favourite tracks, we’ll leave you with their song Me Me She. It has such a sweet video.

Filed under News Tagged with BRAIN DEAD, 野田洋次郎, illion, Japanese London, Japanese music, japanese music in London, Japanese Music London, Japanese pop London, Japanese rock, Japanese rock in London, Japanese rock London, Noda Yojiro, RADWIMPS, UBU, Warner Music UK, Yojiro Noda

illion Confirms Debut London Show: O2 Shepherds Bush Empire – 17 March 2013

14 January, 2013 by Tom Smith 1 Comment

Regular followers of Japan Underground would have noticed us getting more than a little excited about the news of RADWIMPS’ Yojiro Noda coming to the UK to launch his new solo project illion. Along with his first album UBU being released here via Warner Music UK on 25 February, there was news of a live show, but details on it were sketchy. That was until today, when SJM Concerts sent us the following press release;

As part of a World Tour; Japanese artist and Radwimps frontman Yojiro Noda is bringing his solo moniker Illion to the UK for a one off show at London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire.

As frontman and vocalist of the hugely successful award winning Japanese rock band Radwimps; Illion is Yojiro Noda’s first major solo project. Based in Tokyo the 27 years old gifted musician has been standing on the frontline of the Japanese music scene from his teens and is ready to fly out to the world.

Like Radwimps; Illion crafts the lyrics seriously, often cynically, and weaves out music of vast style and sound. His debut album ‘UBU’ is released in February and will follow with his first major UK solo headline show:

Sun 17-Mar-2013 – London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire 0844 477 2000

Tickets are £25.00 and go on sale Friday 18 January @ 9AM

www.gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051

————————————————– ————————————————– —————–
> illion official HP: http://illion-web.com
> illion Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illion.official
> 1123r.com: http://1123r.com/

We’re in Japan during that time, unfortunately (as unfortunate as being in Japan can be…), but we’re sure it’s going to be a great show from the frontman of one of our personal favourite artist from Japan.

Tickets on sale (click here) from this Friday!

illion: New Website, New Video and UBU Tracklist Announced

24 December, 2012 by Tom Smith Leave a comment

As we previously reported, Yojiro Noda (vocalist of RADWIMPS) is launching his solo career in the UK under the moniker of illion. Since the last news story, illion has revealed a brand new homepage (illion-web.com), further details on the project’s first album UBU, and has launched the illion YouTube channel, along with a video for the track called BRAIN DEAD, shot at London’s famous Abbey Road Studios (see below – though it will only be live for 48 hours).

illion’s homepage has completely changed, URL and all. Now it’s fully updated with several pages (as opposed to just a welcome page), including further information on UBU. It will be released by Warner Music UK on 25 February 2013, followed by Warner Japan on 6 March, followed by France and Germany on 29 March. The Japanese edition will also include one bonus track not found on the European version.

Album Title: UBU

01. BRAIN DRAIN
02. AIWAGUMA
03. PLANETARIAN
04. MAHOROBA
05. BEEHIVE
06. DANCE
07. Γ
08. FINGER PRINT
09. LYNCH
10. UN&DO
11. GASSHOW
12. INEMURI
13. ESPECIALLY
14. BIRDIE

RADWIMPS’ Yojiro Noda to Make UK Debut with Solo Act ‘illion’ – Album and London Gig Announced

20 December, 2012 by Tom Smith Leave a comment

Vocalist of Japan’s highly popular rock band RADWIMPS, Yojiro Noda, has opened a Facebook page for his new solo project entitled illion. That’s not all, on that Facebook page is also details on two exciting developments in the artist’s career. First, his debut illion album will be called UBU and will receive a UK release via Warner UK (great to see them taking notice of Japanese music!). Then, it also revealed that he will perform in London on Saturday 16 March at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

But, it’s not quite that simple. According to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire’s homepage, 16 March is a show from Tommy Emmanuel and Martin Taylor. Whether illion is a support act, or if the information is incorrect, has yet to surface.

UBU is scheduled for a 25 February 2013 release.

illion’s official homepage has also opened: 1123r.com

We couldn’t find any tracks of videos from illion online, so we’ll use this an excuse to post the most excellent ‘DADA’ from RADWIMPS instead. This track’s a regular at our club nights too. Turn it UP.

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illion: New Website, New Video and UBU Tracklist Announced